_Turdus pallasii_, CABANIS, Wiegmann’s Archiv, 1847 (I),
205.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 212.—IB. Rev. Am. B. 1864,
14.—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1859, 325 ??.—IB. Catal. 1861, 2, No.
7.—RIDGWAY.—MAYNARD.—SAMUELS, 148. _Turdus solitarius_, WILSON,
Amer. Orn. V, 1812, 95 (not of LINNÆUS).—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1857,
212. _Turdus minor_, BON. Obs. Wilson, 1825, No. 72. _Turdus
guttatus_, CABANIS, Tschudi, Fauna Peruana, 1844, 187 (not
_Muscicapa guttata_ of PALLAS).
Additional figures: AUD. Birds Am. III, pl. cxlvi.—IB. Orn. Biog.
I, pl. lviii.
SP. CHAR. Tail slightly emarginate. Above light olive-brown, with a
scarcely perceptible shade of reddish, passing, however, into decided
rufous on the rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail, and to a less degree
on the outer surface of the wings. Beneath white, with a scarcely
appreciable shade of pale buff across the fore part of the breast, and
sometimes on the throat; the sides of the throat and the fore part of
the breast with rather sharply defined subtriangular spots of dark
olive-brown; the sides of the breast with paler and less distinct
spots of the same. Sides of the body under the wings of a paler shade
than the back. A whitish ring round the eye; ear-coverts very
obscurely streaked with paler. Length, 7.50 inches; wing, 3.84; tail,
3.25; tarsus, 1.16; No. 2,092.
HAB. Eastern North America. Mexico? Not found in Cuba, _fide_ GUNDLACH.
In spring the olive above is very much that of eastern specimens of
_swainsoni_; in winter specimens it is much browner, and almost as
much so as in _fuscescens_. Young birds have the feathers of the head,
back, and wing coverts streaked centrally with drop-shaped spots of
rusty yellowish.
HABITS. Until quite recently the “Ground Swamp Robin,” or Hermit
Thrush, has not been distinguished from the closely allied species _T.
swainsoni_, and all accounts of writers have blended both in singular
confusion. My colleague, Professor Baird, in the summer of 1844, was
the first to suggest the distinctness of the two species. By the
common people of Maine and the British Provinces this difference has
long been generally recognized, this species being known as the
“Ground Swamp Robin,” and the other as the “Swamp Robin.”
The present species is found throughout Eastern North America to the
Mississippi, and breeds from Massachusetts to high arctic regions. It
is only occasionally found breeding so far south as Massachusetts;
through which State it passes in its spring migrations, sometimes as
early as the 10th of April; usually reaching Calais, Maine, by the
15th of the same month.
It is a very abundant bird throughout Maine, where it begins to breed
during the last week of May, and where it also probably has two broods
in a season.
The greater number appear to pass the winter in the Southern States;
it being common in Florida, and even occasionally seen during that
season as far north as latitude 38° in Southern Illinois, according to
Mr. Ridgway.
It rarely, if ever, sings during its migrations; appears in small
straggling companies, frequents both thickets and open fields, and is
unsuspicious and easily approached.
The song of this species is very fine, having many of the
characteristics of that of the Wood Thrush (_T. mustelinus_). It is as
sweet, has the same tinkling sounds, as of a bell, but is neither so
powerful nor so prolonged, and rises more rapidly in its intonations.
It begins with low, sweet notes, and ends abruptly with its highest,
sharp ringing notes.
Taken from the nest they are easily tamed, and are quite lively and
playful; but their want of cleanliness renders them very undesirable
pets. When their nest is visited they make no complaints, but retire
to a distance. Not so, however, when their natural enemy, the hawk,
appears; these they at once assail and seek to drive away, uttering
loud and clear chirps, and peculiar twittering sounds.
The nest of this thrush is always built on the ground, most generally
either under low bushes or in the open ground, rarely, if ever, among
thick trees, and for the most part in low swampy places. Both nest and
eggs closely resemble those of Wilson’s Thrush (_T. fuscescens_). In
Parsboro, Nova Scotia, I found one of the nests built in the very
midst of the village, close to a dwelling, though on a spot so marshy
as to be almost unapproachable. The nests are 3 inches in height and 5
in diameter, with a cavity 3¼ inches wide by 1¾ deep. They are
composed of decayed deciduous leaves, remnants of dried plants, sedges
and grasses, intermingled with twigs, and lined with finer grasses,
sedges, and strips of bark.
The eggs are of a uniform bluish-green color, and range in length from
.88 to .94, with an average of .63 of an inch.
Turdus pallasi, var. nanus, AUDUBON.